The spirit of Christmas

I have always wondered what the true spirit of Christmas is. For many years I thought it’s the magic of bringing the whole family together, the smell of baked cookies and cinnamon wine; the sound of the Christmas carols while we all open our presents. I wasn’t wrong completely, but last night I finally saw the whole picture. The whole magic of the Christmas lies in another thing called tolerance.

Last night in a room full of people I finally saw it. We gather once or twice a year during the holidays. We care about each other (generally speaking) but we don’t do visits due to the fact they would result in sharing impolite words and thoughts. I know we are not the best example of a family, but we are one. Not by blood entirely, but by union. Average people who live in a foreign country far away from our parents and real relatives. It’s not that we don’t like each other, it’s just –as I like to put it- have different opinions about almost everything. And by that, there’s no turning points. That is the reason why we see each other so seldom.

Considering all of the above, last night we lasted in the same room for two hours and a half, without being sarcastic or rude to one another. We behaved decent, trying to calm down when the atmosphere got a little heavier. Even if we all have our opinions about one another, opinions that in certain occasion we express as loud as we can, last night we locked them in a secret compartment and swallowed the key.  And then it hit me: the true spirit of Christmas is tolerance. In order to have happy holidays we have to tolerate our relatives, neighbours, pretended friends, everyone in general. That is the true secret. And also alcohol. While drunk, everyone is friendly and lives in his own bubble. J

Merry Christmas and a tolerable/drunk New Year!